This invention relates generally to material handling apparatus and more particularly to a container for holding a load of fluent material, such as a fine granular, particulate, or powdered material.
The container of this invention represents an improvement over the container disclosed in co-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,159,755 and commercially available from the assignee of this invention, Semi-Bulk Systems, Inc. of St. Louis, Mo. under registered trademark AIR PALLET. The latter container has a generally circular pallet base which supports a generally cylindric bag of flexible material for containing a load of powder or other fluent material. While this container has proven to be generally satisfactory, the cylindric shape of the bag is not the most space efficient for packing or grouping a number of containers closely together in side-by-side relation (a substantial amount of space is wasted between the bags because of their cylindric shape). This results in higher storage and transportation costs. Moreover, bags of cylindric shape are somewhat unstable and have a tendency to tilt on their base, especially if the material in the bag is relatively loosely packed.
BAG Corporation has developed a container system which includes a bag having vertical walls or baffles on the inside of the bag extending from substantially the bottom to the top of the bag. These interior walls hold the bag in a non-cylindric shape (generally rectangular) which is inherently more space efficient. The walls have holes which permit limited flow of material through the walls. Nevertheless, the walls substantially impede lateral (side-to-side) flow of material within the container, making side discharge unloading of the bag impractical. Furthermore, the interior walls are secured to the bag by stitching. The holes formed by this stitching permit undesirable leakage into and/or from the bag.